


Spirit of a Hero

by VerdantSpark



Category: Ori and the Blind Forest, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Female Midoriya Izuku, Inko is dead, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, OCs will be added as necessary, She’s got Ori’s powers, Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko Adopts Midoriya Izuku
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:02:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24385534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerdantSpark/pseuds/VerdantSpark
Summary: Light. Darkness. Forces that have forever been at war with one another. Izuka Midoriya was born to end this conflict, securing victory for the Light. Unfortunately, she’s pretty independent, so if she’s going to fight, it’ll be on her termsorMidoriya’s got Light powers and she’s probably going to fight an owl.
Relationships: Midoriya Izuku & Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Takami Keigo | Hawks & Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko
Comments: 15
Kudos: 100





	1. A Sad Beginning

The first thing that Rumi noticed was that the top floors of the apartment complex were missing. Not blown apart, not ripped to pieces, not liquified, just _gone_. There were no cracks in the concrete and the pipes that would’ve led to the higher floors had been cut cleanly.

The second thing she noticed was the undeniable sound of a young child in distress. She immediately sprang to the window that it was coming from, pulling it open and stepping inside.

“Shit.”

The apartment had been almost completely demolished. Most of the furniture sported burns and the stuff that didn’t had been torn in half. Large scratches led from the living room that the hero stood in towards the kitchen.

_‘I’ll leave that for later. Kid first.’_

As Rumi made her way towards what she assumed was the kid’s room, she heard a sudden gust of wind as her friend flew in the window she’d left open. She heard Hawks curse quietly, and then head towards the kitchen.

She slowly opened the door and poked her head in. While it wasn’t as bad as the living room, it was clear that it had endured plenty of violence. The bookcase was in pieces and the hero figurines she assumed had been up were now shattered into tiny fragments.

The bed frame had been snapped in two, and the mattress now lay directly in front of the closet doors, keeping them closed. The crying had stopped, but Rumi could still pick up some quiet sniffling from inside.

The Rabbit Hero moved the mattress and knocked on the closet doors. A quiet “H-h-hello?” met her ears. Rumi knelt in front of the doors. 

“Can I come in?”

“W-who is i-it?” asked the small voice.

“I’m a hero. Name’s Miruko.”

The doors slowly opened to reveal a young girl. She was small, couldn’t have been more than five or six. She was wrapped up in an All Might-themed blanket, which she hugged to her small form. Two small horns rose up out of her pure white hair, and black eyes with white pupils met Rumi’s red ones.

“I’ve heard of you! You’re the Rabbit Hero!” her small voice rasped, rough from crying for so long.

Rumi smiled at the girl’s quiet enthusiasm. “Right you are, kiddo. You got a name?”

“I’m Izuka. Izuka Midoriya,” the child’s brow furrowed. “Do you know where Mama is?”

_‘God, I hope this kid’s mom is okay’_

Instead of saying that, Rumi sat up a little bit. “I’m afraid I don’t, kiddo. How’s about we get you looked at and then I can come back and look for her. That okay with you?”

Izuka nodded, then lifted one of her hands up. Interpreting this to be the kid asking to be carried, Rumi obliged, swinging the kid up with her as she stood. As she walked back into the wrecked living room, Hawks appeared from the kitchen, looking ready to empty his guts all over the floor. He shook his head, then moved towards the small apartment’s bathroom.

_‘Today just couldn’t get any worse for this kit, huh?’_

Rumi stepped onto the windowsill, being careful not to bang little Izuka’s head on anything. “Hang on tight, kid,” the small child obliged, and the Rabbit Hero sprang up into the air, hitting the ground with a quiet thud. She handed Izuka off to one of the medics, giving them one of her best glares. “Keep her in my line of sight.”

The doc paled and nodded quickly, walking Izuka towards one of the four ambulances that had arrived on the scene. Hawks had followed her down, and sat heavily on the ground next to her. 

He coughed, then spoke in an uncharacteristically small voice. “She’s dead. Looked like she’d been disemboweled with a fucking rake.”

Rumi nodded, then caught the attention of one of the cops that was nearby. Several of them had arrived at the scene after they’d received calls about an explosion going off. She and Hawks had arrived moments later.

“Yes, Miss Miruko?” 

Rumi jutted her head towards the building. “How many?”

The cop paled and sighed. “All in all, we’ve got five missing, another ten injured, and thirteen dead on the lower floors. They all look like they’ve been…”

“...disemboweled with a rake.” she finished. “Any suspects?” 

He nodded, taking his cap off and running a hand through greying hair. “We haven’t seen them but we’ve got a name. They call themselves Fukurou. This…” he said, gesturing to the apartment building. “...has got them all over it. We’ve had three incidents that are very similar to this one.”

Rumi nodded, then looked at Izuka, who was now talking to the doctor tending to her. She didn’t seem to have anything wrong with her, other than seeming a little tired, but one could never be too careful. (She’d learned that the hard way after fighting a group of gunmen and leaving a bullet unchecked. Her hip still hurt sometimes.)

“Does the girl have any family?” she asked suddenly, not knowing entirely why she asked. _‘I know exactly why I’m asking. No one deserves to grow up like I did.’_. 

The cop turned his head, catching sight of the white-haired girl. “Last I heard, her father wants nothing to do with her and neither does the rest of his family. Disgraceful if you ask me. No one on the mother’s side is very close either, so she’ll likely go into the foster system.”

The Rabbit Hero clenched her teeth in anger. _‘How could a father just abandon his daughter? Foster system, my ass!_ **_Midnight_ ** _would probably make for a better caregiver than anyone those assholes could find!”_

She felt Hawks tap her on the hip, and he smirked knowingly when she looked at him. “I thought that might’ve been what you were thinking.”

She (lightly) kicked him in the shoulder and huffed. “I hate it when you do that. How am I supposed to take care of her?”

He shrugged. “Do like most parents do. Figure it out as you go along, I guess. Try and do a better job than your parents did with you.”

She almost full-on punched him when she realized he was being sincere. He chuckled to himself as he stared at the ground. “I actually think you’d be a kickass mom, if you wanted to be one.”

That made her pause. _‘Do I really want to be a mom? Sure it’s on my bucket list, but do I want to do that now?’_ She turned to regard the little girl. _‘Should I? Is it responsible of me to want to take care of a kid when I’m a pro hero?’_

“Do you know any heroes with kids?” she asked. Hawks nodded. “Yeah. Endeavor’s got a couple, and I think those two with the water quirks were planning on having one. What was their team name?”

“Water Hose,” she answered absentmindedly. _‘I’m definitely stronger than Water Hose and Endeavor’s just a couple of rungs above me. If they can have kids, why can’t I?’_ she pondered.

She heard Hawks chuckle again, and when she looked at him he had his trademark easy grin on his face. She could see that it was still warped from the horror he witnessed in the kitchen, but chose not to mention it.. “You’ve already made up your mind on if you want to, haven’t you?” That earned him another kick in the shoulder. 

Then she heard Izuka start to cry again, only it wasn’t loud and fearful. This time it was quiet, and filled with more grief than a child should have.

_

“M-Mama’s gone? B-But Miss M-Miruko said she’d go look for her! Where’d she go? Where’s Mama?!”

Izuka was really upset. The doctor had been making her hurt knee feel better when he told her that he was sorry that her mother was gone.

So Izuka had asked where she had gone, because she couldn’t have gotten far, cause she said she would be back in a minute and Mama doesn’t lie so of course she’d be back soon.

She had started crying, and the doctor had left her to take care of someone else. There were a lot of hurt people around. _‘Who’s gonna take care of me if Mama’s gone? Hisashi said he’d never take care of me and I don’t have any other parents.’_

“W-What am I gonna do?” she asked the empty space around her.

Strong arms pulled her into a hug. “Don’t worry, kid. I’ve got your back, if you want me to.”

Izuka turned to look Miruko in the eye as she wiped a stray tear off of her nose. “W-What do you m-mean?”

Miruko’s cheeks got kind of red and she scratched the back of her head before she answered. “I mean that...that if you wanted to stay with me for awhile, that would be okay with me.”

Izuka sniffed. “Are you sure? I-I wouldn’t w-want to get in the w-w-way.”

The Rabbit Hero smiled at her warmly as she hugged Izuka even closer. “I’m sure, kiddo. I’m sure.”

_

This CPS officer was _really_ starting to piss her off. Rumi had left Izuka at the police station with Hawks under strict instructions to keep an eye on her while she went to go hash out custody issues.

_‘Unfortunately, this stupid dirtbag cannot seem to get simple facts through his thick skull!’_

Every time she’d answer a question, he would give her a look like he didn’t believe her, sigh, and then type something into his computer. He’d often repeat questions that he had asked much earlier, seemingly trying to tick her off.

“And why exactly do you want to be this child’s caretaker? Seems a little sudden.” he uttered in a disinterested tone. “From what I’m looking at, and from what you’ve told me, you don’t really seem to be the type to just up and decide to take care of a kid.”

_‘That question at least has some merit.’_ She cleared her throat and leaned forward, glaring at the officer, who was at this point trying his best to avoid her gaze. “Let’s just say I’ve had some bad experiences with your department in the past, and I’d prefer to spare Izuka from that fate. The last thing she needs right now is a bad foster _home_.” she said with a snarl.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Now, is there anything law-wise that would prevent me from taking her home with me?” 

The officer shook his head very quickly and handed her a piece of paper, freshly printed. “There’s nothing in the will about anyone else becoming her primary caregiver in the event of Ms. Midoriya’s untimely passing. This paper denotes you as her temporary caregiver. Should someone within the family or close to the family want to take care of her, they have a right to do so. If we find a suitable family for her to be placed with, we shall notify you. And, of course, should you want to make the decision permanent, all you’d have to do is schedule an appointment for the two of you to come down and sign some paperwork.”

Rumi nodded as she folded the paper and placed it in her wallet for safe keeping. _‘If she wants to stay with me, I’d sign the fucking papers within the hour. But it’s her choice, not mine.’_

As she left the building, she thought about the changes she would likely have to make around the apartment. _‘I’ll give her the guest bedroom. Tamaki can crash on the sofa if he’s got a hangover. Shit, do we have any fresh groceries? I’ll take Izuka with me tomorrow to get some so she can pick out stuff she likes. Probably have to take her clothes shopping too since her dresser looked like a pack of wild dogs had ripped through it.’_

She chuckled to herself as she launched into the air. _‘Good thing money’s never gonna be an issue. Might have to do a couple more hours around the city for a while to keep the accounts happy.’_

The mental list was (mostly) finished as she came to a grinding halt in front of the local police force building. Musutafu’s officers had always treated her with respect after she’d taken down a particularly nasty villain who’d been responsible for several major cases of arson.

_‘What was that ugly bastard’s name again? Firebug? Dragonfly? Something like that.’_ she mused as she walked in. ‘ _I could ask Izuka. She’d probably know. Speaking of...where are...ah ha!”_ she thought as she caught sight of the little girl and her temporary watchbird.

Hawks gave her a wave as she approached, but Izuka didn’t seem to notice her, too engrossed in telling a story to him. Rumi caught the tail end of it as she got closer. “...and then she jumped up reaaaaaaal high in the air and kicked him really hard in the back of the head.” She must have made some noise or another because Izuka immediately turned her attention to her. “Hi, Miss Miruko!”

Hawks nodded towards Izuka. “You got back just in time. She was just finishing up the story of your fight with that real big bruiser whose name we can never remember. What was it again, kid?”

Izuka grinned. “It was Tsuyoi! He was super big and strong and Miruko took him down with one kick to the head. Bam! I just told you the whole story, Mr. Hawks.” the girl said exasperatedly.

Hawks chuckled and ruffled Izuka’s hair in response. “I like this kid, Rumi. So, how’d the CPS go?” he asked knowingly. 

Rumi smiled and kneeled down in front of Izuka. “I got permission to take care of you for a while. Whatcha think about that?”

Izuka’s eyes immediately got watery and she lunged forward, wrapping her small arms as far around Rumi as they could, muttering a quiet, “Thank you so much,” between sniffles. 

She smiled and patted Izuka’s back, holding her close. “Of course, kiddo.”

As the three of them left the police station, one thought burned itself into Rumi’s mind. 

_‘I’ll protect this kid, no matter what it takes.’_


	2. Little Light

The duo got several looks as they walked the aisles of the small grocery store. Rumi supposed that made sense, as she was rather popular and had never mentioned a kid in the hundreds of interviews she’d given.

Luckily, the few people who were around decided that it wasn’t worth incurring her wrath to ask where Izuka had come from. _‘I’d probably tell ‘em it’s none of their business.’_

A tug on her sleeve brought Rumi’s attention to Izuka, who was nervously rubbing her arm. “U-Umm, Miss Miruko?”

Rumi chuckled. “First, no need to be formal with me, kiddo. Call me Rumi. Second, what’s up?”

“Why’s everyone looking at us?”

Rumi frowned and knelt, getting eye level with the young girl. “Well, y’know how I’m all famous and whatnot?”

Izuka nodded, still looking around at the other customers.

“I’ve never mentioned a kid in any of my interviews. They’re probably looking at us to see if you’re my daughter, and if so, who the father is. Honestly, it’s nothing to worry about,” she said with a huff. “It’s just people sticking their noses in other people’s business.”

Izuka’s eyes had gotten very wide. “They think I’m your daughter?”

Rumi shrugged. “Probably. I’d watch the hero feeds online for the next couple of days. I’d bet a grainy picture of the two of us walking here will show up sooner rather than later with a bunch of crazy theories attached. Those people are always grabbing at straws.”

Rumi stood and continued down the aisle. “Creamy or crunchy peanut butter?”

“Crunchy is evil and should never have been invented.”

Surprised, Rumi looked down to see Izuka full on glaring at the blue jar of crunchy peanut butter. She laughed at the hateful expression on the girl’s face and grabbed one of each.

Izuka raised an eyebrow as Rumi placed both jars into the cart. Rumi sighed. “Hawks likes to come over when he’s... not feeling well... and eat an entire jar of the stuff while he lays on the couch. I do agree with you though, crunchy isn’t very good.”

_‘It’s not like it happens very often but it’s good to be prepared for when he’s drunk as a skunk.’_

“Let’s see, next on the list is cereal. You got a favorite?”

“R-Rumi?”

The slight bit of fear in Izuka’s voice immediately put her into ‘Miruko mode,’ as Hawks had put it one evening after she’d heard a noise and accidentally smashed a mailbox. She spun to Izuka and grabbed her, moving between her and whatever the threat was. In front of her stood a woman with dark black hair and piercing white eyes. The woman peered at the two of them with a predatory look.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. So you’re the one who’s been taking care of the little light in her mother’s stead, huh?” she said in a sultry voice.

“How the hell do you know about any of that?”

The woman smiled eerily and tilted her head. “I live in the neighborhood and heard what had happened.” She tutted disapprovingly. “Such a pity, isn’t it?”

There was a slight edge to her words, something that didn’t sound right coming out of a human’s mouth, a kind of low sound that Rumi could just barely pick out. _‘God, it’s setting my teeth on edge.’_

The woman shook her head and began to walk away. “I wish the two of you luck. You’re going to need it. Goodbye... for now.”

Izuka’s whimper brought Rumi’s attention away from the potential threat for a moment. Izuka was firmly pressed against her leg, eyes wide with fear.

“T-That...t-t-that’s her! She’s the one who...w-w-who killed…”

Rumi immediately called Hawks as she rushed to the front of the store, keeping her eyes and ears peeled for the dark woman. _‘No sign of her inside. Outside maybe? C’mon, Tamaki, pick the goddamn phone up!’_

She peered outside just as a dark shape disappeared into thin air. “Damnit!”

_“What’s the emergency Rumi?”_

“Now you pick up!? The bitch who killed Izuka’s mother was here!”

_“Shit! I’m on the way right now. Should I call for backup?”_

“You’d better. You start looking for clues, and I’ll take Izuka home. I’ll join you later.”

_“No, you stay with her. I’ll grab some help and start looking. Kid’s got to be losing her shit right now.”_

_‘Fuck.’_

“Izuka!” Rumi dashed back to where she’d left the girl. She was leaning against the cart heavily, muttering to herself, as small flashes of light popped in and out around her. Rumi immediately hugged her.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. She’s gone now. We’re okay.”

She felt Izuka start to shake as she hugged back.

_

“Hey, kid, you doing okay?”

Izuka rolled around to face Rumi, her eyes red and tear streaks down her face. “Not really.”

Rumi sat down on the foot of the bed and put her arm out. Izuka wormed her way down and embraced the woman tightly. “When I saw her, I just froze. It was like it was happening all over again.”

Rumi squeezed her. “I will do everything in my power to make sure that what that... **woman** … did never happens to you or anyone else ever again. But right now, my sole responsibility is you.”

“Thank you, Rumi.”

Rumi ruffled her hair. “Anytime kid. Now, do you need anything? Water? Something to eat?”

“I am getting kinda hungry,” Izuka said as she smiled sheepishly.

“Well then, let’s see if we can’t rustle something up then, shall we?”

Rumi lifted her up quite easily, carrying her into the kitchen and setting her on the counter. She began pulling ingredients out of cabinets. “Y’know kid, we don’t know each other very well.”

Izuka‘s brow furrowed. “That’s true, I guess. We’ve only known each other for two days.”

Rumi nodded, turning to the stove top and grabbing a pan. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself while I take care of dinner? I can’t say I’m not curious.”

“Where should I start?”

“How about your quirk? You were making some kinda flashes earlier, right?”

Izuka nodded. “It’s called Light. The quirk doctor wasn’t feeling particularly creative that day, I guess.”

Rumi chuckled as she began to make what Izuka thought looked like a stir fry. _‘Yakisoba? Might be a favorite. I’ll ask her later’_

“Anyways, I can make light. There’s a fiery kind of light that I can make in short bursts, or if I mime like I’m hitting something and concentrate really hard I can make a kind of light construct that looks like a really thin sword, but without a crossguard or handle.”

Rumi raised an eyebrow at that. “Can you make other stuff?”

Izuka shook her head. “Not yet anyways. I’ve been practicing as much as I can though.”

“I’ll help you with that if you want me to.”

“Really?”

“Of course! Wouldn’t want you to get into a scrap and not be able to defend yourself.”

Izuka frowned. “Isn’t using a quirk to fight without a license illegal?”

Rumi grinned. “Technically, yes. That being said, friends and family of pro heroes are generally dealt with much easier than most if they use their quirks to fight. Something about in case of villains or something like that. Point being, you’re allowed to fight with your quirk if you have to.”

“Oh.” _‘Here’s hoping I never have to.’_

“So what’s with the eyes and horns?”

Izuka smiled bashfully. “I’ve got a tail too. I keep it wrapped around my waist though.”

“Why’s that? Someone pull on it or something?”

“It’s weird looking!”

Rumi rolled her eyes and then pointed to her ears with her free hand. “And these two giant ears coming out of the side of my head don’t look a little weird? Never be ashamed of what you look like, Izuka. We live in a world full of people with odd appearances. The people who care about what you look like don’t matter. And you didn’t answer my question.”

Izuka smiled to herself as she shrugged. “I’m not sure. They glow really bright when I’m mad or when I’ve been using my quirk for a long time. Other than that, they don’t do much.”

“Anything else you can do?”

“I can climb really well and I’m pretty flexible. That and I’m really small for someone my age. Everyone in my class is bigger than me.”

“And how old are you exactly?”

“Ten. I turn eleven on July 15th.”

"Man, you are small…” Rumi put a hand on her hip and thought for a moment. “How about your hobbies? What do you like to do?”

“Well, you know I’m a hero nerd.”

“That I did know. The All Might blanket _definitely_ didn’t give it away. Not to mention knowing the name of that dime-a-dozen brute I fought way back when.”

Izuka blushed a fair bit at Rumi’s teasing. “Yeah. I also like to analyze quirks. I had some notebooks I was using to sort my thoughts out, but I think they got... destroyed.

_‘Like everything else in that apartment.’_

Rumi smiled slyly. “There’s a box on the table in the living room. Why don’t you go get it?”

“Okay?” _‘She’s got something up her sleeve, that’s for sure._

The large grey box stood on the table, the lid slightly ajar, begging to be opened.

_

The gasp of surprise confirmed that Izuka had, in fact, opened the box.

Rumi began plating the yakisoba as Izuka walked back into the kitchen, clutching a notebook labeled _Quirk Analysis for the Future_ to her chest with tears in her eyes.

“I thought that everything had been destroyed.”

Rumi smiled as she walked over. “Most of it was.” She nodded towards the living room. “What’s in that box was what Hawks and I thought was worth keeping that wasn’t in pieces. Do you like it?”

The pro hero was not prepared for the white-haired cannonball to the gut as Izuka dashed into her, hugging her around the middle.

“Ow. I take that as a yes?”

“I love it. Thank you Rumi.”

“Anytime Izuka. By the way, the ‘for the Future’ part made me think that you might want to be a hero. Is that right?”

Izuka smiled bashfully. “Maybe.”

“Well then, I’m just going to have to make sure that you get the best hero trainer in the business.”

“Who’s that?”

Rumi raised an eyebrow. “Last I checked, you’re standing in front of her.”

Izuka gasped again. “I’m going to be trained by you?”

“Yep. We’ll get started soon enough. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving, and this yakisoba isn’t going to eat itself.”

Between the two of them, dinner didn’t last long. They ate quickly, and afterwards slowly moved into the living room. Rumi was laying in the armchair, thinking seriously about going to sleep right there, while Izuka sat on the couch nearby, trying to find something boring to watch.

“That was nice. I think I’m gonna hit the sack, kiddo. You should too; we’ve got a day full of a whole lotta nothing to do tomorrow. Lazing about takes a bunch of energy, you know.”

Izuka giggled. “Very true. By the way, I meant to ask earlier, is yakisoba your favorite or something?”

“Or something. It’s a comfort food. It was the first thing I ever learned how to cook by myself without needing a fire extinguisher.”

“Didn’t someone teach you?”

_‘Time to spill the beans I suppose.’_

“Unfortunately, kid, no. See, we’re more similar than you know. I lost my parents when I was around your age. Bounced around from foster home to foster home until I ended up on the street.”

Rumi turned to look at the young girl, who was looking at the pro with a combination of sadness and awe.

“That’s part of the reason I wanted to take care of you so bad. I don’t have a lot of faith in the foster system, and when I heard that you’d probably go to them, I knew I had to do something.”

“What was the other part?”

“Hmm? Oh.” Rumi smiled warmly. “Having a kid’s always been on my bucket list.”

“Rumi?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“Can I have a hug?”

“Sure thing.”

Izuka stood and made her way over to the armchair as Rumi raised her arms welcomingly. The girl laid down and snuggled into Rumi’s side as she embraced her.

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scary bird lady is scary. Next time, quirk training! And some more emotional breakdowns probably. Those things tend to happen when you lose a parent.
> 
> ======================
> 
> There's this Discord server that I’m in called Epsi’s Hoard where a bunch of cool people hang out and talk about MHA, writing, and a bunch of other stuff. They’ve got some really nice betas over there who’ve been helping me out with this story. If you’re one of them, hey thanks for the help! If you’re not, thanks for reading, and feel free to come over and say hi!
> 
> Here’s a link if you’re interested: https://discord.gg/npK7eSd


	3. Comfort

_The apartment was dark, and the monster’s shrieking echoed through the hallway into her bedroom. Izuka had heard her mother cry out in pain moments before and was trying very hard not to make any noise._

_The monster stopped screaming, and then she heard it._

_Scrape._

_Scrape._

_Scrape._

_Scrape._

_The noise reached her door and stopped. A loud bang signaled the monster entering her room and Izuka froze._

_She watched as a clawed foot slowly reached towards her bed, lifting it slowly, as if the thing it was attached to was looking for something. Looking for her._

_With an ear-splitting shriek, the thing threw the bed. The mattress hit the closet doors, making Izuka flinch. She could no longer see what was happening, only hearing the monster destroying her room in a fit of rage._

_

She woke in a cold sweat, panting wildly from fear. _‘It’s okay, it was just a dream. Just a dream.’_

Her new room was bright, but she could tell that was only because of the moonlight filtering in from the window. Well, that and the white fire currently licking at the curtains. _‘Wait.’_

“Ah! Oh no! No! Stop it, me! Stupid quirk!”

She grabbed her pillow and leaped upon the ghostly flames with fury, smothering them quickly and decisively.

_‘I really hope the curtains aren’t burned. Rumi would kill me.’_

She slowly removed the pillow, revealing that the curtains were, in fact, not burned to a crisp.

_‘Huh. They burned the dummies we’ve been using for practice. Maybe it’s because I didn’t want to hurt anything? Something to test out later I guess.’_

She yawned suddenly, realizing that she was still very tired. The last week had proved to be the most taxing one that Izuka had witnessed in her whole life. Rumi had her pushed to her limits so that she could, in Rumi’s words, _‘figure out what won’t hurt your bones’._

Her caretaker had promised that today would be the last day of truly ridiculous training, with the session ending with a sparring match against her. “Oh, don’t worry kid,” she’d said with a mischievous grin. “I’ll go easy on ya.”

 _‘I should probably go to bed. But I don’t want to be alone right now.’_ With that, she wrapped herself in her blanket and padded over to the door.

_

Rumi woke up suddenly, her ears standing to attention at the sound of her door opening. She fumbled for the light switch of the lamp on her nightstand for a little bit longer than was necessary before finally finding it and turning it on.

Izuka stood in the doorway, frozen stiff, wrapped up in the All Might blanket that she’d been rescued in. Her eyes were red and small flickers of light danced around her.

“What’s the matter?”

“I h-h-had a nightmare. And accidentally set the curtains on fire. But it’s okay, they’re not burned!” she added quickly.

Rumi grunted and lifted the blankets up. Izuka quickly hopped up on the bed, keeping a little bit away from Rumi.

“Kid, I’m not gonna bite. C’mere.”

Izuka immediately shuffled closer, letting Rumi hold her.

“Don’t be afraid to come in here if you need comfort okay? You’re going through stuff that no one your age should have to. It’s my job to make that easier. Alright?”

“Alright.”

“Try and get some sleep. Busy day tomorrow. Night kiddo.”

“Good night Rumi.”

_

_‘I hope these nightmares don’t last forever. She deserves to grow up at least a little bit normal. Maybe I should schedule a meeting with a child psychologist or something.’_

Rumi had slept for another hour or two before Izuka had started crying out in her sleep. Bands of light swirled around her, arcing out into the air aggressively, as if she was fighting something.

She’d wrapped the girl up in a hug and started stroking her hair, muttering soothingly. Izuka had eventually fallen back into a deep sleep right as the sky had turned indigo.

_‘Not the first time I’ve been up super early. Although this time it was for a very different reason. I think my days of patrolling all night will be coming to an end if she’s got anything to say about it.’_

Izuka sighed and shuffled closer in her sleep and Rumi instantly felt her heart melt.

_‘If I didn’t think of her as my daughter before, I sure as hell do now. Shit.’_

She started stroking Izuka’s hair again as she thought. _‘It’s only been a week. I know she likes it here, she’s told me as much, but I don’t think it’d be fair of me to ask her to stay. It’s her decision, not mine.’_ she repeated silently for the fourteenth time since Izuka had arrived.

_‘If I’m remembering right, her birthday is in a month. It was July, not June, right? Fuck, I can’t remember. It was either July 15th or June 12th. I’ll ask her when she wakes up.’_

Her phone buzzed in her back pocket. Carefully, she slowly maneuvered the phone so that she could see it’s screen without the brightness disturbing Izuka.

_‘Hawks. He only texts this early if something’s up.’_

Opening up the message, it appeared as if she’d missed several throughout the night.

**chickenboi: Located possible hideout. Stay with the kid. I’ll keep you updated.**

**chickenboi: Called for backup. Fricken All Might showed up. Perp apprehended.**

**chickenboi: I’m assuming that you’re still asleep, or the kid’s got you very distracted.**

She smirked as she texted back a reply.

**rabbitsfoot: A little of both. She had a nightmare, we haven’t talked about it yet. She’s with me rn.**

**chickenboi: She awake?**

**rabbitsfoot: What do you think? It’s fuckin four in the morning and she’s ten.**

**chickenboi: So no. Does she look familiar to you?**

Along with the message came an image. The woman in the picture appeared to be the same woman that had confronted them in the grocery store, and yet it couldn’t be her. The woman from the store didn’t have any facial scars that she remembered, not to mention the fact that her eyes had been white, not amber.

**rabbitsfoot: They look similar, but they aren’t the same person, unless she’s wearing some pretty convincing makeup. Her eye color is wrong too, should be white.**

**chickenboi: What should we do?**

**rabbitsfoot: I think questioning at the very least. Has she said anything?**

**chickenboi: Not to us.**

**rabbitsfoot: Huh. Did you guys fight?**

**chickenboi: Nope. She was asleep inside. Only reason I checked there was because there were black feathers around there that were the same as the ones by the store you and the kid saw her in.**

**rabbitsfoot: Weird. I’ll be over in a little while. I’m kinda trapped. Keep me posted, and be careful.**

**chickenboi: Will do.**

_‘At least we’ve got All Might helping with the case now. I should ask for an autograph for Izuka. Or maybe I could think of something better than a piece of paper.’_

And as the sun began to rise, the Rabbit Hero began to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, maybe I lied about the quirk training part, but hey, you got a little emotional sadness. I just started writing and well...Anyway, quirk training will definitely be next time.
> 
> ======================
> 
> There's this Discord server that I’m in called Epsi’s Hoard where a bunch of cool people hang out and talk about MHA, writing, and a bunch of other stuff. They’ve got some really nice betas over there who’ve been helping me out with this story. If you’re one of them, hey thanks for the help! If you’re not, thanks for reading, and feel free to come over and say hi!
> 
> Here’s a link if you’re interested: https://discord.gg/npK7eSd


	4. Practice

Izuka’s back hit the practice mat for what felt like the tenth time since she and Rumi had started sparring.

“Ow.”

“Sorry kid. I have to say though, you’re doing better than I thought you would,” Rumi said as she offered Izuka a hand.

Izuka accepted it and was pulled to her feet. “That’s nice to hear. What am I doing that’s better than you expected?”

Rumi grinned. “Your strikes for one. Your punches and kicks will be doing some pretty hefty damage when you’re older. The other thing is your dodging. You’re pretty quick, which you’re already using to your advantage. Unfortunately, you aren’t quicker than me. Yet.”

She leaned her head back and breathed in deeply. “You practice enough, and you might be faster than All Might some day.”

“You really think so?”

“I do. Let’s take a break. You’re looking tired, and I wanted to talk to you anyways.”

“Okay.”

The two moved off to the side of the training room and sat down on one of the benches. Rumi’s agency was smaller than most, but it more than made up for it in the sheer abundance of quality equipment that the pro had cherry-picked from many different stores.

Top-of-the-line exercise machines dotted the floor of the room, and the tower of weights in the corner had pretty much any number that Izuka could think of.

Even the sparring mat they were using was top of the line, a brand that was endorsed by All Might himself.

“Do you think this is maybe a little much for me? I’m only a week away from turning eleven.”

Rumi shrugged. “Dunno. You feel overworked?”

Izuka shook her head. “No, not really.”

“Then you’re probably fine. Besides, if you want to be a hero, it’s good to get a head start now. Trust me, you do not want to be one of the lazy schmucks that ends up having to train their butts off in the last couple of months before the entrance exams.”

“That makes sense.”

“I hope so. I know too many heroes who had to do that because they didn’t put the time in. Actually, speaking of entrance exams, have you thought about which school you’re going to apply to?”

“I think I want to go to U.A. You and All Might went to school there, right?”

“Not at the same time, but yeah. That’s a good choice. I’d be careful though, it’s one of the top schools in the country. You’ll have to give it your all if you go there.”

“Heroes should always give it their all! It’s their job to protect the people, and if they don’t do their best, then they can’t protect people!”

Rumi was smiling at her with pride. “Well said.”

Izuka felt her cheeks burn as she muttered a quiet thanks.

The two then sat for a minute or two in silence, sipping from their canteens. Izuka broke it with a question. “What was it like there?”

“At U.A.?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm. It was nice. I met Hawks there. We were in the same class. Class 1-A, taught by the one and only Midnight.”

“Was she nice?”

“Mostly. There were a couple of times that she got kinda nasty, but that was usually because someone had done something bad.”

“Like?”

“Oh y’know, destroying a building or two, breaking something in the dorms, hurting ourselves, starting a brawl with our rival class, that kind of thing. Normal stuff.” Rumi counted off on her fingers.

“That was normal?!”

Rumi laughed at Izuka’s outburst. “You have to remember, quirk usage isn’t exactly discouraged there. As long as it was safe-ish, you could pretty much practice anywhere. But yeah, blatant destruction was pretty common.”

“Wow.”

“Where did you go to school before you met me? I’ve been trying to find your records so I can figure out what to do about your non-hero subjects.”

“Alderra Primary. It was nice, but kind of boring. All of the work was too easy.” _‘I wonder how Kacchan is doing?’_ she thought abruptly. ‘ _I hope he’s okay.’_

“The work was too easy huh?” Rumi’s face had adopted an expression that Izuka was quickly beginning to associate with her guardian’s more hare-brained schemes.

“What are you planning?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll like it.”

“Just as long as you don’t make anyone else angry. Your receptionist didn’t seem very happy with you training me.”

Rumi scoffed. “Isabella has always disapproved of my excellent ideas. Besides, I'm being careful with you.”

“You are. And I’d tell you if I had a problem with any of this.”

“Good. I’m glad that you feel comfortable enough to talk to me. And I’m not just talking about training.”

Izuka nodded. “I’d say you’ve done a great job so far.”

“Well that makes me feel better. Is there anything you’d change?”

Izuka thought for a moment. _‘She’s been nothing but welcoming to me. She’s supportive of my dream to become a hero and is training me so I can be prepared for it. She makes me feel better whenever I have the nightmare. She trusts me. All of her rules are fair and she listens to me.’_

The girl shook her head. “Nope. Keep doing what you’re doing please.”

Rumi was looking at her fondly as she’d replied. When Izuka quirked an eyebrow questioningly, she chuckled. 

“I hope you realize that you’ve got a habit of muttering your thoughts out loud, especially when you’re working something out. You haven’t done it often, but I’ve caught you doing it a couple of times here and there.”

Izuka blanched. “I said all that out loud?”

Rumi laughed that time. “Yep. If it makes you feel any better, all that stuff you said tells me that you think I’ve been doing everything right so far. I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the incident.”

“You were right to send me to bed. I probably wouldn’t have slept at all given what I was reading.”

The event in question had taken place three days ago, and had involved Izuka trying to read all the grisly details about the infamous hero killer Stain’s latest attack, which Rumi had been involved in. Rumi had found out and had turned the computer off, stating, “Trust me, kid. You do not want to know what he did to Brimstone or Demigryph.” They had argued hotly for a minute or two, but Izuka did finally stomp off to bed, grumbling angrily as she went.

“Besides,” she continued. “it’s not like you’re keeping me from seeing all of the bad reports. You’re showing me that hero work is dangerous without exposing me to the absolute worst of it.”

Rumi huffed. “I’m starting to think you’re too smart for your own good. These are things I’d expect a teenager to say, not a ten year old. You sure you didn’t get super intelligence as a byproduct from that light of yours?”

Izuka lifted her hand, letting a shard of light extend from the middle of her palm. “I’m not sure. Maybe. I’m able to do lots of weird stuff that shouldn’t really go together.”

The two of them had also been conducting quirk experiments, to see what else Izuka was capable of doing, besides her shard and her fire. So far she’d been able to stick to the wall, double jump, and breathe underwater oddly enough. The last one had been fairly stress-inducing for Rumi.

The pair had been sitting cross legged on the bottom of the pool. After Rumi had gotten sick of it, she’d climbed out and waited for Izuka to surface. When two minutes had gone by, and she hadn’t risen, Rumi dived to the bottom, only to find that Izuka was covered in a thin layer of white light. Izuka had waved at her and flashed a thumbs up at her guardian’s terrified look.

_‘I wonder if I can let other people breathe underwater? That’d be amazing! I’ll have to test that out later.’_

Rumi nodded. “Yeah, you do have quite the variety. And that’s not counting the possibility that you can do other stuff that you haven’t figured out how to control yet. And that is why we…?”

“Practice!” Izuka shouted.

“Exactly. Are you ready to go again?”

“Ready when you are!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chessboard has almost been set. After that, the game shall begin. Next time, an interrogation
> 
> ======================
> 
> There's this Discord server that I’m in where a bunch of cool people hang out and talk about MHA, writing, and a bunch of other stuff. They’ve got some really nice betas over there who’ve been helping me out with this story. If you’re one of them, hey thanks for the help! If you’re not, thanks for reading, and feel free to come over and say hi!
> 
> Here’s a link if you’re interested: https://discord.gg/npK7eSd


	5. Interrogation

To the woman’s credit, she hadn’t said a single word since Hawks and All Might had brought her in other than to request to speak to Miruko. She’d stayed silent since.

As soon as Rumi entered the room, the woman snapped her head up to look at her, almost as if she’d been waiting for her.

“Ah. I was wondering when you’d come,” she said, her voice sounding cracked with age.

_‘Well that’s concerning. I wonder what she wants?’_ Rumi thought as she sat down across from her.

“You’ve been expecting me?”

The woman nodded slowly. “Yes. There are things that need to be said. There are actions that need explaining.”

Rumi quirked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Well by all means, explain away.”

The woman nodded again and leaned back in her chair. “My daughter is not a nice or particularly sane woman. Three years ago, the two of us were at a carnival in Italy. I wouldn’t remember the name, I’m too old for that kind of information to stick. But that’s not important. We went to see a psychic, y’know, have our futures told, our palms read, that sort of thing. The psychic predicticted that my daughter would meet her end at the hands of a weapon in eleven years time. Rather than ignore it or use common sense, my daughter took it very seriously, and spent just about half of her entire life savings to get more ‘information’ out of the psychic. Unfortunately, the psychic then realized that she had gained a rabid attack dog, and so began giving my daughter the names of people that she didn’t like. She’s been hunting people ever since.”

Rumi crossed her arms. “What does this have to do with anything?”

The woman frowned, dug her phone out of her purse, and handed it to Rumi. On the screen was a picture of two women that looked almost identical to one another, except for their eyes. One of the women had golden eyes, whilst the other’s were white.

“I believe you arrested me because my daughter has struck again. Is that correct?”

Rumi just nodded dumbly, looking up from the picture to stare at the mother of the woman who’d attacked Izuka.

“Well then. I shall help however I can, although I’d much prefer to not be quite so… restrained,” she said, holding her handcuffs up from where they had been resting on her lap.

_

“It’s not the weirdest villain origin story I’ve ever heard.” 

“ **Indeed. I’ve heard many tales that were odder than this. The question is whether we should trust her.”**

Rumi scoffed. “C’mon. You saw the picture, right? The two look like they could be twins!”

All Might shrugged. “ **Quirks are very diverse. Who’s to say one of them doesn’t have a changeling quirk of some kind?** ”

Hawks gave him a sidelong glance. “She was a giant owl when we entered the building. She transformed back as soon as we got hostile. Unless she’s got the most versatile changeling quirk ever, I think it’s safe to say that the daughter inherited her quirk from her mother.”

“ **I’m just saying we should act with caution. How would the two of you like to proceed?** ”

That was Rumi’s one hangup about the whole case. All Might, **_THE_ ** Number One Hero, was completely content with her and Hawks making the executive decisions regarding the case. It just didn’t make sense to her.

She’d said as much to Hawks earlier, but he’d brushed it off. “He probably doesn’t want to come off as trying to take over the case, even though he has seniority over us,” he’d said.

_‘Seniority my ass. All Might graduated before I even started grade school. He has every right to be calling the shots here.’_

She shook her head, turning to regard the old woman on the other side of the glass.

“I think we gently question her, figure out what her daughter’s weaknesses are and work from there. With any luck we might be able to find out where she and her master are hiding.”

Hawks chuckled. “I’d hesitate to call the psychic her master. She’s more of a person with a really bright laser pointer, and Fukurou is following it.”

“ **No matter what, the two of them must be stopped. We might consider that this Fukurou character might not be well in the head, if you catch my meaning.** ”

Rumi shook her head. “There’s no way. Hawks and I have seen the kind of damage she can do. No one who’s batshit insane could hope to be as clean and methodical as she was.”

“ **Perhaps we should look at all of the former attacks that have been attributed to her and see if there is a pattern to the way she kills. We might be able to figure out what her next target is.** ”

“That’s not a bad idea. What do you think, Miruko?”

“If you’re gonna do that, then I’ll see what I can learn from her mother. All Might, why don’t you hit Musutafu’s police department and ask around about our perp? Maybe one of them’s heard or seen something.”

“ **Very well. For now, I think we should all go get some rest. After all, we won’t be able to catch anyone if we’re dead on our feet.** ”

Rumi yawned and glared at him. “You did that on purpose.”

“ **Make you yawn?** ”

“Yes,” she grumbled.

The Number One Hero let loose a deep hearty laugh. “ **I did not realize that I had the strength to make the mighty Miruko yawn with a word! Perhaps I shall make Hawks here sneeze every time I wink?** ”

Hawks groaned in response. “Please don’t. My sinuses already want to kill me all the time thanks to my feathers. How I’m allergic to them I will never understand.”

That got both her and All Might laughing all the way out of the building.

_

The apartment was quiet as she stepped over the threshold. She checked in on Izuka, who was completely passed out in her bed.

_‘Good. She needs the rest.’_

Rumi quietly shut the door and turned, heading towards the living room, intent on finishing that pint of soft serve she kept in the back of the freezer for when she was really stressed out.

As she entered the kitchen, she heard what sounded like glass being scratched with a metal nail. She turned to the window and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of the giant owl scraping its talons against the glass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lack of updates ladies, gentlemen, and everyone inbetween. I’ve been caught in the process of moving to New York from the opposite end of the country, which has been exhausting. I’ll try and knock out another chapter or two asap.
> 
> Next time, Momuko and Fukurou have a chat.
> 
> ======================
> 
> There's this Discord server that I’m in where a bunch of cool people hang out and talk about MHA, writing, and a bunch of other stuff. They’ve got some really nice betas over there who’ve been helping me out with this story. If you’re one of them, hey thanks for the help! If you’re not, thanks for reading, and feel free to come over and say hi!
> 
> Here’s a link if you’re interested: https://discord.gg/npK7eSd


	6. A Midnight Discussion

The owl scratched at the window again, the sound destroying the quiet peace inside the apartment.

Rumi did not let the owl in. Instead, she opened the window, took two steps back and then hurled herself out. She caught the giant bird-of-prey square in the beak with a well-placed kick, which sent it sprawling into the alley below.

She gracefully hopped down beside it, placing her foot on one of its fragile-looking legs. She then put on her meanest look, the one reserved for the worst of the worst, before she leveled it at the bird.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t snap both of your legs right now.”

The owl hooted and shook its head so fast that Rumi thought it might have turned its neck the other way around.

“Doesn’t sound like much of a reason to me. Tell ya what, I’ll lift my leg so that you can change back, and then the two of us are going to have a nice chat. M’kay?”

The owl nodded.

“If you try to run, I’m going to break every bone I can reach. You understand me?”

The owl nodded again, much more frantically this time.

“Good.” Rumi then slowly removed her foot from the dark bird’s shin, and watched as it turned into shadows and shrunk, until a young woman stumbled out of the dark fog. _‘That’s not the creepy lady from the grocery store. Something’s off about this.’_

The woman rubbed her leg, glancing up at the pro, before sitting down against the wall with an expectant expression on her face.

“Let’s start simple. Why the fuck are you outside my window?”

“Because I’m being framed for a crime I didn’t commit! I didn’t kill all those people, or hurt that little girl I’ve seen you with, or any of the other horrible things that have been pinned on me!”

Rumi simply raised an eyebrow in response.

The woman huffed. “I suppose proof would help?”

“Maybe.”

“The damage to the buildings. Did that look like something a giant owl could’ve done?”

Rumi ran over the image of Izuka’s former home in her mind. “You have a point there. The cuts were too clean to have been done with anything conventional. Then again, maybe you’ve got a partner with a vicious cutting quirk.”

The woman laughed. “I work alone, and correct me if I’m wrong, but there was only one consistent set of tracks found on all of the crime scenes. Thick work boots, size eleven and a half, trailing blood from one room to another broken up by tracks with claws longer than a ruler. Would you like to compare?”

Rumi considered saying no for a moment before relenting. “My threat from earlier still stands. You run, I break you.”

Her hostage laughed again and dissolved into smoke, changing back into her owl form, which held a leg up for Rumi to inspect. Sure enough, as hard as Rumi tried, she couldn’t get the talons to stretch farther than half a foot, much smaller than the marks that had been found at the crime scenes.

“So, if you’re being framed, there’s got to be a reason for it. Care to explain who and why?”

The woman nodded after transforming back. “I’m Allison, but I’m more commonly known as Fukurou. Before all this got started, I was a cat burglar. I’d sneak into places, steal the nicest or most important thing in the room and then sell it back to whoever I stole from for an outrageous price. Then I’d give all the cash to someone who was in need. An orphan here, a poor family there. I have a code, you see. I never kill, I never steal from do-gooders or anyone who doesn’t deserve it and I help the innocent. That said, my name started to pop up in some not very nice places. One day I get a phone call from this guy who says he’s looking for someone with a certain set of skills to help with a job. Normally, when people called me for a team up, they would want to rob a casino or sneak into a politician’s office or something along those lines.”

“I take it this job went against your code?”

“They...they wanted me to kidnap a little girl. She’d just turned eight. They said her quirk was special, that it could be used to better the world.”

“What did you do?”

Fukurou grimaced. “Ditched the phone, got a new one, and warned the family. They were in the States the last time I heard from them.”

Rumi raised her eyebrow again. “I take it these guys didn’t take too kindly to that?”

“Understatement of the goddamn century. I’ve been on the run since. They’ve started to get desperate I think, since I keep figuring out which kids they’re going to take next and warning them and their families. Hence the framing.”

“How many kids have you rescued?”

Fukurou grinned. “Fifty-four so far.”

“How many kids have you not reached in time?”

Fukurou’s smile faded instantly, replaced with a sad scowl. “Too many.”

A horrible thought occurred to Rumi just then. The feel of it sent shivers down her spine and her mouth tasted like ash. “They...they were after Izuka weren’t they?” she asked haltingly.

Fukurou bowed her head in response, a quiet, “I’m so sorry.”, the only words to fill the quiet alley.

Rumi’s traitorous mind then began to fill her head with images of Izuka being cut apart, examined, and tortured just because of her light. She grit her teeth.

“One of them was masquerading as your mother.” she spat. “She told us that some psychic from a carnival was using you as her personal hitman. How could I have been so STUPID?!” she shouted, flattening a nearby dumpster with a well placed axe kick. “‘I’ve heard weirder shit.’ I said! ‘We should listen to her.’ I said! **SON OF A BITCH!** ” she screamed.

“ **Who are they** _?_ ” she growled. She knew she looked terrifying when she got like this, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to give a shit. “Who are the sons of bitches that wanted to use my kit as a **FUCKING SCIENCE EXPERIMENT?!** ”

“They’re called the Shie Hassaikai. They’re Yakuza.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How the turn tables. In moving news, we leave in a week, which is terrifying and exciting at the same time.
> 
> Next time, a dastardly plot is revealed.
> 
> ======================
> 
> There's this Discord server that I’m in where a bunch of cool people hang out and talk about MHA, writing, and a bunch of other stuff. They’ve got some really nice betas over there who’ve been helping me out with this story. If you’re one of them, hey thanks for the help! If you’re not, thanks for reading, and feel free to come over and say hi!
> 
> Here’s a link if you’re interested: https://discord.gg/npK7eSd


	7. Dark Drive

“Yakuza?” Rumi glared suspiciously at the vigilante as reason dissipated her anger. “How in the hell could Yakuza pull something this high stakes off? They’re basically nonexistent at this point.”

“They’ve evolved. Their leader is as smart as he is evil, and he’s got a bunch of members with extremely rare quirks. As far as I can tell, they also have a habit of hiring powerful villains to act as a distraction while they complete the real job. That fight between All Might and Toxic Chainsaw a couple years back? That was them. They robbed four banks and three high-end jewelry stores while everyone was distracted.”

Fukurou rummaged around in her pocket for a moment before pulling out a small black hard drive. “I have my own copy. I made this in case I managed to talk to you without getting my skull caved in.”

Rumi smirked. “You managed well enough on that front. What’s on it?”

“All the evidence I could find that will prove what I have claimed. Security tapes, a money trail, the whole shebang. Everything you need to know is on that. Now, I need to move again now that the Shie Hassaikai knows I’m in the area. That old lady will probably be gone within the week.”

“Wait. Before you go, can I ask you something?”

Fukurou smiled warmly. “They won’t be going after your girl. They perceive me as a threat. You’d be the apocalypse incarnate. I’ll be in touch, okay?”

Rumi nodded and watched the woman fall into a cloud of smoke and emerge as an owl. She hooted at the pro once before taking off, flying up and out of the alleyway. And just like that, Fukurou was gone.

_

The longer she looked through the files, the angrier she got.

‘ _ They managed to get almost thirty kids before Fukurou started fucking with them. They’ve kidnapped an additional sixteen since she started her counter operations. Damn it all. How could we have been so blind?’ _

Rumi rubbed her eyes as she jotted the information down onto a private file she was compiling to make sense of all the data she was looking through.

_ ‘Last file. Wait a minute, that’s... shit.’ _

Sure enough, the final file on the drive, which was a copy of security tape footage, was listed as having been created the day that Izuka had become an orphan. There had been other tapes, mostly of one or two henchmen-types moving towards a building before being scared off by the owl vigilante.

Izuka’s failed kidnapping was distinctly different right from the beginning. As she watched, she saw a large figure shuffle into frame right in front of the apartment building. It wore a large coat and a wide hat that obscured its features.

Another figure, this one about the size of a regular person, practically ran into frame and grabbed the big one by the shoulder and yanked it down to seemingly whisper into its ear.

The large figure twitched, and its hands shot out from under the coat, large metal tipped claws jutting out from where their fingers should’ve been.

It dropped to all fours and made its way into the building. The other person slowly walked over to a nearby bench and sat, apparently waiting for its companion to return. A few minutes went by, and the person on the bench began to fidget. 

Rumi leaned back, running a hand through her hair and sighing heavily.  _ ‘Why the fuck haven’t I been shown these already? Are the cops in their pocket?’ _

Additional movement drew her eye back to the screen. The large figure was back on two legs, shaking its head at the other. The shorter figure started visibly shaking, balling its fists. Itnodded jerkily before snapping its fingers, creating a small purple orb right above the tip of its gloved pointer finger.

It raised said finger towards the building before slashing the air, creating a long arc, which fired forward and sliced cleanly through the building. The top of the building hovered for a moment, and then in a flash of white, it and the two figures were gone.

_

When Izuka padded into the living room to start her day, she did not expect to see her guardian passed out on the couch.

She mustered some courage and poked Rumi in the side, causing her guardian to jolt up and blink blearily around until her eyes focused on the small child that stood in front of her.

“Hey kiddo. What’re you doing up so early?” she yawned.

Izuka wrinkled an eyebrow. “It’s only nine o’clock. That’s not early.”

“Got me there, I guess.” Rumi held an arm up, gesturing for Izuka to come snuggle.

The girl settled happily in the hero’s arms as Rumi turned on a local news channel.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“You know I’ll always do my best to keep you safe, right?”

Izuka nodded. “I know.”

Rumi pulled her closer and began to run a hand through the girl’s hair. “Good.”

Izuka hummed happily at the sensation. “Got anything on the agenda for today?”

“I’ve got to go talk to Hawks about some stuff, but other than that, I’m free. Why, you want to go and do something?”

“I want to go work on target practice some more. I almost got all of them yesterday.”

“I dunno,” Rumi snarked, “you might tire yourself out again and not be able to try some of that amazing rhubarb pie I said I’d make for you.”

Izuka gasped and stood, wiggling out of her guardian’s arms. “I can do quirk training and eat pie on the same day! I’ve seen you do the same thing all the time!”

“True. Tell you what; if you can get ready to go within the next ten minutes, we’ll stop by that doughnut place you like so much on the way.”

With that, Izuka raced off to her room. Rumi chuckled before moving her attention to the still-open laptop laying menacingly on the coffee table. She closed it and removed the flash drive, tucking it into a nearby end table.  _ ‘I’ll take that to Hawks later. Right now, I’ve got a little scamp to deal with.’ _

_

The door to the stark white room opened. The young girl shuddered, trying her best to disappear into the corner she was huddled in. Her tail flicked about nervously, whilst her ears stayed firmly pinned back, almost disappearing into her dark black hair.

She hissed at the man in the mask, who chuckled at her while he prepped a large needle.

“Such spirit,” he rasped, his voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard. “We’ll soon fix that, my sweet. We need you to be nice and obedient for what we have planned for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope the wait was worth it. I’ve been so tired for moving boxes and hauling books that I haven’t been able to write as much as I’d like. 
> 
> Add that to the fact that my school just started back up and you’ve got a recipe for a longer wait time than usual
> 
> This story will get updates when I have the chance to sit and write stuff out without being bothered by anyone except for my own inner monologue.
> 
> That being said, I’m curious to see who you guys think the girl in the room is. Feel free to guess in the comments below.
> 
> Next time, hero training and Izuka’s birthday!


End file.
